Global Compact and OCHA Launch New Business Guide on Emergency Relief

2005-04-25

New York, 25 April - At a landmark conference entitled
Advancing Public Private Partnership in Response to Global Disasters, held at UN
Headquarters in New York, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) and the Global Compact Office have launched Business
Contributions to UN Emergency Relief: An Orientation Guide. This new and
comprehensive online resource aims to facilitate greater cooperation between the
business sector and international organizations involved in relief operations
during humanitarian crises. It can be accessed at http://ochaonline.un.org/businesscontributions.

The online guide has been designed to help business identify effective ways
to support the UN’s emergency relief efforts, be it through financial
contributions, in-kind contributions of products or services, or long term
partnerships with a specific UN agency. It serves as a one-stop access point to
a broad set of relevant information and is divided into four core sections
which:

Outline the scale and impact of humanitarian crises,
such as natural disasters and armed conflict;

Explain the role of the UN family of organizations in
coordinating emergency relief efforts across the globe;

Describe various ways in which companies can
contribute to resource mobilization, capacity-building and funding for
emergency relief; and

Discuss the necessary steps and procedures to be expected when a
company considers making a donation to the UN.

In addition, the site provides donor information for all UN organizations
involved in emergency relief, as well as links to general emergency relief
information, both inside and outside the UN System. The need for this
business guide, as well as its design and content, were identified following a
survey of Global Compact participants earlier this year.

Business Contributions to UN Emergency Relief: An Orientation Guide was
developed with support from Dalberg Global Development Advisors.

Many companies participating in the Global Compact have
contributed to the relief efforts. One recent example of such a contribution is
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has just concluded an agreement
with the UN
to provide 8,000 hours of professional services on a pro bono basis to assist
the UN with its efforts to enhance accountability and transparencywith respect
to the use of Tsunami relief funds managed by the United Nations. Please
contact Ms. Ursula Wynhoven (wynhoven@un.org) for more information.